by A. K. Koonce
His hips thrust against mine, grinding into my clit with every move he makes until I can’t take it anymore. My hand fits between us, and he moves back just enough for my fingers to shove down his jeans. Smooth skin slides meets my palm, my fingers stroking every thick inch of him. His teeth drag against my neck once more before he tilts his head down to watch. Hot breaths fan across my breasts, my body aching just from his closeness. My wrist moves at a leisurely pace, enjoying the strain of his shoulders as I run my palm over the slick head of his cock and then all the way back down.
“I wasn’t going to fuck you,” he whispers, his head dipping, his tongue flicking out to tease my nipple.
“Mmm, you weren’t?”
His mouth seals hard over me, taking as much as my breast into his mouth as he can before gliding the flat of his tongue hard against my nipple. I arch into the sharp scrape of his teeth, making me tip my head back into the doorframe as a gasp shakes from my lungs.
He pulls slowly back and shakes his head before pressing a chaste kiss over the other breast.
“No. I have no idea how we got here actually.” He sucks hard against the other nipple, my hand working faster and faster along his shaft. A low groan hums against my sensitive skin. He lifts his lustful, crimson gaze to search mine. “I wanted our first time to be as a group.”
Sometimes, all his sweet gentleness makes me forget he’s a wickedly sinful demon.
Until he reminds me. Like right now.
My brows raise, my hand stopping its quick strokes between our bodies. All I can think about is the tangle of delicious hard bodies tangled all around mine in a sweaty, thrusting image of ecstasy.
My heart pounds demandingly in my ears.
“You wanted our first time to be with Chaos, Kain, and Rime?” My heart trembles weaker when he nods to me.
That’s the sweetest fucking thing anyone’s ever said to me, I swear.
“I fit here with you and with them. Sharing you in the deepest level possible would make it better. It’d—”
He swallows so hard I want to know in painful detail what he’s imagining, what he likes, what’s turning him on so much with the idea of us all fucking together.
“It’d be really good, Arrie,” he says in a low, seductive rasp.
My thighs tense around his hips. If I shifted forward, sliding my chest against his, his shaft would grind into the wet center of my panties right now. I want that more than he does I think.
But I want what he just described to me even more.
I nod, and his eyes brighten, the crimson flaring to life again as lust flashes dangerously in his gaze. He lowers me in an instant, and he and I are in frenzied rush to get back to my room to do exactly what he promised. With my hand in his, he pushes out the bathroom door and into the hall.
But he stops dead in his tracks the moment his feet hit the glossy floorboards
“Fuck—” With one hand against my shoulder, he pushes me right back into the small bathroom, pulling the door nearly completely closed on me.
I stand there half naked and stunned for a moment. Through the crack in the door I see him jerk his jeans up, covering the hard length of his cock as he stands awkwardly in the middle of the hall. He keeps his hand on the doorknob even as I try to pull it open. He wavers with the push and pull of our hands on the door but he never gives in. A smile presses to his lips, his body shifting nervously as he stands shirtless.
In front of my mother.
Oh. Fuck.
Instantly, I stop trying to rip the door open and just stay safely behind the damn door like he tried to make me do in the first place.
My mother’s gaze looks from his hips, to the door, to a random fucking spot on the wall as far away from Sinister as she possible can.
“Um, I-I didn’t see anything,” she says as her gaze dips down to the hard outline beneath his jeans that she most definitely has to have seen.
Sinister flashes that smile that Helen and Myla loved so much. He won Chaos’ and Kain’s mother’s over so quickly. And now he’s slapping his cock out like a handshake for my mother on the very first day.
A beat of uncomfortable silence falls into place as I cover my breasts with my hands and continue peeking through the sliver between the door and the glossy frame.
“You know, I’m usually much better at meeting people, I promise.” Sinister pushes his palm slowly down his face, meeting my mother’s wide blue eyes once again.
“I’m—I’m going to go back down stairs and pretend like I didn’t come up here and see—all of this.” She motions to the entire span of the hall, and like, I’m not saying Sinister isn’t big, but now she’s just exaggerating.
She turns stiffly, and with a shake of her head she scurries downstairs.
“Thank you, Bella,” he calls after her in that charming accent of his.
With a heavy breath, he releases his hold on the door, allowing me to finally pull it open. His hand pushes over his face once more, through his hair until he’s gripping the back of his neck. All the sensual feelings that were pulsing through my body are completely gone as I think about him stumbling nearly naked out in front of my mother. We stare at one another for a moment, stupid smirks tugging at the corner of our lips.
I almost manage not to laugh at him.
Until he speaks again.
“I’m not trying to brag, but your mom really likes me.”
I close my eyes to the quiet laughter shaking out of me.
Someday, Sin and I are going to have delicious, dirty—definitely rough—sex.
Today is not that fucking day.
Five
Without Kain
All that laughter is gone by the time the sun sets that evening.
“I’ll be back in less than three days.” Kain’s whisper sinks right through me and lays uneasily at the pit of my stomach.
I know he has to go back. He has to explain everything to his mother and to Chaos’ about where he is and that they’re safe. I didn’t want them leaving because of me like they left before.
And yet here we are.
“Let me just vanish there with you. It would take no time at all if I used my magic.” Then I wouldn’t have to worry about if Carlin is going to harness my dragon shifter away in a dark dungeon for what he thinks I did.
My father looks up from the dinner table, his gaze watching the five us closely as we whisper near the front door. My mother sits quietly across from him, and ever since the dick-that-shall-not-be-seen incident, she hasn’t glanced at Sinister one time.
“I can’t take the chance of them trying to lock you away.” Both of his hands slip down the length of my arms, reminding me of faint soreness of my scar. He pulls me slowly against his chest, his palms pushing down my back. “Watch after her,” he says to the three men behind me, and I roll my eyes at his constant protectiveness.
“I was just fine on my own before I met you, Kain,” I mumble into his chest.
“You can say that but you had a hellhound at your side every day, love.” Sinister’s know-it-all comment rubs right into my face, but Kain doesn’t give me time to glare over at the demon.
His lips press firmly to mine, gentle palms caressing the sides of my face as he kisses me in the softest, sweetest way that I didn’t even know he was capable of. The time he demanded I kiss him in Agatha’s bathroom is nothing like this. The demanding, arrogant shifter isn’t who he seemed to be when he’s with me. It makes me crave him. I want him so much my breath catches, and it only makes my lungs ache more knowing that he’s leaving.
“I’ll be back soon.” He kisses me slowly one more time, dragging out the pressing pain that’s building in my chest. When he pulls back, he looks into the other room down the hall, spotting my father there. “She needs ships,” he calls out, snapping me right out of my bubble of romance. “She owes someone several ships.” Kain waits for my father’s reply, lingering there until he knows every aspect of my life will be taken care of while he’s gone.
“A lot.” There’s no hesitation in Kain right now. He’s all straightforward business right now.
“Then it looks like my daughter’s flock of men will be busy tomorrow.”
The pallet my mother made on the living room floor is adorable. The three men tucked in beneath the blankets like they’re preparing for the world’s broodiest slumber party, are even cuter.
“Goodnight,” I whisper to them, lingering on the bottom of the stairs, my father looking sternly down at us as he makes his way down the hall to their bedroom at the far end.
I have four mates, and my father really expects me to virtuously sleep alone.
Perfect.
Rime lies on his back in the middle of Chaos and Sinister, his jaw locked tight, his gaze sweeping restlessly over the ceiling. Sinister keeps a nice amount of space between his arm and Rime’s, while Chaos all but drapes himself right over the ice shifter’s chest.
It might be an interesting night for Sinister if Chaos’ hand slips any lower by accident.
The demon glances back at me then, and the moment he looks at me, I’m already plotting sneaking down here in an hour.
Hopefully I haven’t missed the fun by then.
The smooth wood of the steps skims against my feet, and it’s a slow trek to my room alone. With intention, I don’t close the door behind me. I keep it open and when I slip beneath the soft lavender blankets, that’s where my gaze lingers in the dark. I watch the open span of the door for too long.
And then my thoughts drift to him.
I feel like a piece of me is missing without Kain here. It’s only been a couple hours, but I hate it. It’ll be a quick trip by dragon flight, less than a day’s journey there. I’ll worry about him the entire time, though. I don’t know what I’d do if he wasn’t there to watch over me. To piss me off. Infuriate me. Love me.
I’m exhausted, but my thoughts won’t quiet. The pressure in my chests rises until it shakes out in an uneven breath.
A beat passes, and then I try something I haven’t tried yet.
I test the bond between Kain and I. I’m…assuming we have one. I’ve spoken with Chaos several times. A little with Rime. But I’ve never tried with Kain. It exists. I feel it. I just have to use it to strengthen it.
Kain?
Barley a second passes, and I just know that I won’t do it right. I should have tried before this. I should have strengthened it just for moments like this when he’s gone and I can’t reach him and I’ll never know if he’s hurt or not. And why didn’t I try this before? Why?
Kain!
His name is a yell in my thoughts as the anxiety in me crushes through my lungs.
What? What’s wrong? Is someone hurting you? I’m an hour away. I’m coming. His voice is a stream of tense sounds spoken in a quick, rough way.
No. No. I’m fine. I just was thinking about you is all.
My eyes close. That sounds…lame as hell.
You were thinking about me so you screamed my name in panic?
I didn’t mean to. I was just worried.
Arlow, I stopped flying and shifted back because I thought you needed me. I’m fucking naked in hay field just because you were ‘thinking about me’. There’s a small amount of annoyance kissing his words.
He’s not even here, and I can picture the frustration in his green eyes perfectly.
I can also picture other things in precise detail.
You’re naked?
A smile tips my lips as a second of silence passes between our bond. His words hum like a caress through my thoughts when he finally replies.
That would be what you pick up on out of that rant, wouldn’t it?
My tongue slides across the smile on my lips, and I can’t help but picture his hard body, his hands probably planted firmly on his hips as he gives me a mental lecture in the middle of the country.
Are you hard?
A groan tumbles through the line linking us together, but he doesn’t immediately reply.
I am now.
My fingers slip beneath the blankets, skimming lightly over the waist of my lace panties as I wait for more details.
Kain? I breathe out his name both in my mind and out loud.
It’s starting to rain, he finally says, sounding even more frustrated.
The faint tapping of gentle water flicking against my window pulls my gaze to the shining stars outside. Water droplets skim down the glass, and I glare at the little trickles as they slide down to the windowpane.
Be careful, Kain. There are so many other things I don’t add to that. Be safe. Come home soon. All the things that sound sweet but are actually just rising fear inside my mind.
I will. I’ll be back before you know it. I love you, Arlow.
I pull the soft blanket up to my chin.
I love you, too.
The pelting sound of water striking against glass picks up. It grows quickly into a violent downpour. A low rumble of thunder slashes down a hard storm of rain, and the tension that had just left my body snaps right back into place. I’m throwing off the blanket and trailing right back to my men in a matter of seconds.
Sinister is already fast asleep, his dark lashes fanned across his sharp cheekbones. I see how much his magic wore on him today, even if he refused to admit it. Chaos only smiles when I walk around the couch and step over him to be safely between them. His palm glides across every inch of my body when I lower myself down between him and Rime. All three of them shift, making room for me. I didn’t realize how exhausted I really was from yesterday as well as today. Sinister said the Dark Seduction would have that effect, but I didn’t notice it until I was settled in surrounded by Rime and Chaos. Their big arms wrap around me, caressing my curves as my eyelids close heavily.
If any hands do slip that night, I’m sadly not aware of it.
Six
Dirty Work
I walk out into the forest with them the following morning. The sun isn’t even ready to be up yet, and here we stand in the dim lighting of the dawn that’s shining through the brown leaves clinging to the limbs overhead.
Chaos, Rime, and Sinister are given tools. Rime and Chaos nod along to what Brenton, my father’s worker, is instructing them on, but Sinister’s gaze keeps drifting down the sharp blade of the axe Brenton just handed him. He holds it like it’d like a prop rather than a tool.
“Okay, so you got your axe, you got your trees.” The man with the easy smirk lifts his hands to the forest around us. “I’ll check back in with you in about an hour. Try not to fuck anything up.”
“Wait.” Sinister tosses the axe aside and takes a step after Brenton.
The worker arches a blond brow at the demon, eyeing him closely as if Sinister might rip out the man’s soul at any minute.
“Do you have…blueprints? An outline? Something we should be going by?”
“No. That’s…that’s definitely out of your skill set, my man. You three are just here for your muscle. I’ll take Arlow up to the steam rooms, and we’ll get this shit done in a couple weeks. No problem.” The cocky smirk never falters, and he’s the only person smiling this damn early in the morning.
“I’m sorry, did you just say you were going to lead my girl to a steam room?” Chaos is just now looking as concerned as Sinister about this situation, and it isn’t because he’s never used an axe before.
“The steaming bends the wood, gives it form. Pretty girls make for good wood handlers, you know.” The asshole licks his lips as he winks at Chaos, and it does not make this situation better.
Rime doesn’t share the guy’s amusement, and he takes two steps forward, his gaze cold and calculating. He’s a predator who knows how quickly and how easily it would be to make this man shut up.
“Okay. We’re fine. We’re going to get this done. Everyone’s
fine.” I smile forcefully as I step into Rime’s path, putting my hands firmly against his chest until his cruel attention finds my calm features.
He doesn’t immediately react. That glaring emptiness still shines in his gaze, and I stay for as long as it takes with my hands trailing up, cradling his jaw until the tension subsides from it. I nod slowly. He nods as well.
“It’s fine,” he whispers. His hands remain at his sides, his chin lifting to Brenton. “Don’t fuck up, Brenton.” He repeats the man’s words right back to him. It’s eerie the way he smiles after he says that. One side of his lips turn up sharply, a threat lingering unspoken against his mouth.
“Yeah, I won’t.” That arrogant smile isn’t Brenton’s mouth anymore, and he’s careful not to make direct eye contact with me as he motions for me to follow him.
“Be good.” I watch Rime closely. I sound like that beast tamer scolding her arrogant dragon taints all over again.
“I am good,” Rime rasps, that manic smile only growing when he finally looks down at me.
I shake my head at him, slowly releasing him and backing away to follow after Brenton.
“Tell me if he fucks up, Tamer.”
“He won’t, Shifter.”
Chaos and Sinister smirk at my teasing nickname, but Rime’s cruel amusement is different than theirs. Dangerous. That smile hides all the dark things that flash through his quiet mind, and I know it.
His pale eyes narrow on me. “We’ll see.”
I turn my back on them when branches tangle in my dress and I trail quickly after Brenton.
“There are three other groups working farther down the southern bend. I don’t expect your friends to get much done on their first day, but hopefully they’ll catch up to the other logging group’s speed within a week or two.” Brenton no longer smiles that teasing smile with me. He’s one hundred percent serious now, and I know exactly who to thank for that. “You’ll be on the coast in the steam room. Between steam cycles, you can come up deck and start the staining process.”